In recent
weeks at least one piece of masonry has fallen from the decorative gate,
located at Northwest Fourth Avenue and Burnside Street downtown.

One piece
narrowly missed a resident of Right 2 Dream Too, the homeless camp situated in
a vacant lot right next door. "It was
just after the snowstorm," says Amber Dunks, resident and spokesperson at the
camp. "He was just walking by, and a big bronze-colored piece came really close
to hitting him."

The
ornately decorated segment that fell is about eight inches across, although it
broke in two when it hit the sidewalk.

Right now
it's in the office of Michael Moore, co-manager of the café at Sisters of the
Road, brought there by Ibrahim Mubarak, founder of the camp.

City
officials on Thursday confirmed that particular piece of damage.

Mubarak
said that he has another piece of masonry that fell. "Not as big as the one I brought to Michael's
office, but it could do some damage." He added that on Thursday morning there
were "crumbs of clay from the gate " lying beneath the structure. "We've been
watching closely. We don't want to be
blamed. Also, someone could get hit."

View full sizeThe piece of the gate that almost hit one of the residents of Right 2 Dream Too. It is about eight inches across at its widest point.Rebecca Koffman/Special to The Oregonian

"It's a
public safety issue," says Moore. But, he added, it was difficult to figure out
who is responsible for maintenance on the gate.
"I thought it might be the Bureau of Development Services since they
deal with dangerous structures."

"Maybe this has been happening for a while,"
said Weiner, "and because the folks at Right to Dream are right there, they
happened to notice it."

A close
look at the gate reveals several gaps in the ornate decorations on the five
roofs: a few ornamental rosettes, for example, are missing.

The real
question, said Weiner: "Is the Chinatown Gate falling down?"

The transportation
bureau sent a structural engineer to examine the gate on Thursday afternoon
and, said spokesperson, Diane Dulken, the inspector concluded that the damage
had probably been caused by wind, that the ornamental tile work is in good
condition, and that the structure is stable.

View full sizeA section of one of the Chinatown gate's five roofs. Note the missing rosette at the center of the picture. Several gaps in the decorative pattern are visible on different sections of the gate.Rebecca Koffman/Special to The Oregonian

Dulken said
that the bureau of transportation has not had a maintenance budget for the gate
since 2009, when it was hit by budget cuts.

The gate, erected
in 1986, cost about $270,000. It was
manufactured by a company in Taiwan, shipped to Portland in several containers
and assembled and installed in less than a week.

Helen Ying,
vice chair of the Old Town Chinatown Community Association, said that her
husband Stephen Ying, current president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent
Fund, is looking into the questions of gate maintenance raised by the falling
masonry.